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True Nobility
True Nobility was a campaign adventure that followed four different men from different noble families across Tolas as they fought against the forces of the exarch known as The Heir. Set Up The former adventurer, Lucius Hightower, sent letters to every noble house in Etan and Vhir that he could, in the hopes of assembling a powerful alliance of lords and nobles. The only four who did respond to his letters were; * Dafin Grost, Prince of Grostere and an oracle of Pelor. * Franzik Futherwald, son of Lord Futherwald of Zafra, a duellist. * Lothon Randalhost, Duke of Kurtland in Hoffendale, and trained arcanist. * Veros Sarotha, son of House Sarotha in the Nerevic Empire, a psionic warrior. Meeting in the Desert The letter received by each player sent them on the vessel, Stormtamer, to Estefell, the town ruled by Lord Telvus Ventus, who turned out to be an ally of Lucius. Having realised that no one else was heeding his letter and warnings, Lucius explained the growing danger of the Heir to the four, insisting that the exarch could bring ruin on their homelands. Before the Magistrates The players traveled to Zel'bidaal to convince the Magistrates there to refuse an alliance with the Heir, however, they realised that the magistrates were deeply divided, with a powerful group even advocating an alliance with the Heir. Recognising that the Zels were crucial to slowing the Heir's advance and buying them time to rally forces elsewhere, the party convinced the Zels to stand and fight. City of Dragons The players traveled to Okarthel to convince the council there to stand with them against the Heir. There they learned that Kepeski had abandoned the city, and that a weapons dealer called Chalky Lampoon knew the location of the great Dragon. However, Lampoon's proposed trade, the information for a rare Phoenix, proved too much of a detour for the party, and after much deliberation they decided to address the council. This too was unsuccessful, and weary of the intrigues of the city, Veros, Lothon and Franzik set out for Grostere, where Dafin had journeyed earlier on the orders of his father. Descending Sun Dafin returned to Grostere only to find that his father, King Solrei IV, had come under the influence of a sirithi ambassador. Paraded around the nation and forced to endorse an alliance with the Heir, Dafin finally spoke the truth, rallying his citizens against his father and the sirithi ambassador. For his crimes Dafin was placed under house arrest in Manse. Escape When the rest of the players arrive in Manse they were immediately accosted and some were taken prisoner, Veros however utilised a psionic tattoo on his chest that turned his flesh into malleable pseudotransparent ectoplasm and flew away. Leaving his bulky armor in a secluded location, he mounted a rescue operation, enduring the hails of crossbow bolts from Manse's elite guard to free his friends from imprisonment and possibly execution. Having escaped the clutches of a corrupted king, the party fled south to lands loyal to Grostere and opposed to the Heir's scheming. New Dawn The players arrived in Charley where Dafin is crowned King Sanctus II. Having learned that a sizable force of goblins were willing to join their cause, the party set out to help the tribe, hoping that a short detour would not endanger their quest, but gain them allies of significant number. The goblins wished to retake the fortress of Falkanah Keep from the Heir's forces, and combined with Sanctus' elite knights, the siege was successful. Battle for Falkanah The assembled forces of the players battled against a surprise attack by the Heir to their rear. Despite the intervention of two Dragons on the Heir's side, descendants of Ithmitne, the party managed to defeat the attacking forces, crushing the exarch of the War God's Crimson Legion. An unexpected victory that made the Heir question his strength. A Weapon of a Darker Age Following the success in Falkanah, the party traveled to Sang City by the request of Kelfi who had ridden to inform them of his crew's (who were like family to him) mutiny and that Hidal sought them to come to his home in the north. Once they arrived they discovered a bedridden Hidal and a mad Lucius, the two of them having sought a weapon fabled to have been able to slay a deity akin to the Usurper, the former being beaten savagely by the weapon's guardians and the latter having gone mad by the touch of the weapon. The group traveled to the weapon's location and entered it's hiding place finding an angelic guardian who stood between them and the blade. After a debate later lauded as one of the great pieces of rhetoric of the age (surpassing the Dragon Debate that had occurred on the ramparts of Falkanah Keep), the party was allowed to take the weapon upon the promise that it be returned once it was no longer needed. Veros was chosen by Sanctus to take the weapon due to his lack of connection to divine magicks and adeptness with a blade, which began to twist his mind in unknown ways. Letters After returning to Okarthel, the party was contacted by the Council who apologised for their behavior previously and sought to rekindle the chances for a military alliance following the advance of the Usurper further north. The party agreed to terms and were additionally shown a diplomat form the Usurper who carried messages from his lord to each of them, a cunning plan by the Usurper to break the wills of his most powerful opponents. Franzik would be the only one of the party to fall to his fears, fleeing the city in the night whilst the others mulled over the threats and revelations made in their letters. A Long Awaited Meeting After a few days the party was surprised by the sudden appearance of the younger brother of King Sanctus, Charlen, who arrived dramatically before them. With him he traveled with the knight to which he was squired, Sir Thimbane, who introduced them to an old ally, Halim Shiral. Through the exiled sirithi a plan was hatched to get the party into the stronghold of the Usurper through a series of bluffs, ruses and magical rings. Once inside the stronghold, and after Halim Shiral was slain by unseen assailants, the party combated the Usurper, the exarch using the magicks of his strongroom to project their fight into the very clouds of the skies of Tolas, being witnessed by all of Etan and Vhir where the forces of the Usurper fought against those that opposed him. After a long battle in which King Sanctus was almost slain, Veros plunged the ancient blade into the celestial body of the exarchs destroying its tethered form and damaging the metaphysical self beyond almost all repair. Veros promptly teleported away into the warren of G'yass with the blade in hand, the party agreeing to pursue him another day and to return to their home countries. Category:Campaigns Category:Events